Golden finale: Phelps wins 23rd Olympic gold with relay win

Phelps was elected a team captain for the first time in his career - this was his fifth Olympics - and truly seemed to enjoy being around his fellow swimmers.

The former said it will be fun to see how swimming as a competitive sport transitions over the next four years considering that there are many young children who show how much talent they have. But is this really it?

While Phelps failed to win his 24th Olympic gold medal, he has nothing but praises for Schooling.

Two-time gold medalist Ryan Murphy put the Americans out front with a world-record split on the backstroke but Britain surged ahead on the breaststroke and Phelps dived into the pool in second place. "Being able to cap it off with these Games is just the flawless way to finish".

Phelps swam the butterfly third leg of a tight race, pushing the usa from second behind Great Britain up to first before freestyle specialist Nathan Adrian saw it home for gold in an Olympic record time of three minutes 27.95 seconds. Phelps said he's all done.

Bolt won his first heat in 10.07 seconds Saturday and is still a favorite, despite a sore hamstring that forced him from the world championships last month.

He has 28 medals overall, having won five golds and a silver at these Games.

After amassing 22 medals, 18 of them gold, in four prior campaigns, Phelps delivered an epic ending to his Olympic saga in Rio de Janeiro, powering to five gold medals and one silver in seven days.

"Being Michael requires such isolation", Ervin said. He has talked fondly about counting down his races and warm-downs throughout these Olympics, but he did exactly the same thing in London in 2012.

"... For a long time, I saw myself as the athlete that I was, but not as a human being", Phelps said in a Sports Illustrated interview a year ago. "Other people respect that". It's also about how they support each other in tough workouts or after races - from the intuitive teammates who know who needs a hug and who needs space, to the effervescent ones that pump everyone up. "It wasn't the best start, it felt kind of sluggish", Bolt said, adding that he never has been a morning person and preparations for his noon-time race felt unusual.

Phelps powered the United States team to a 3:27.95 finish, 1.29 seconds ahead of Britain.

The 19-year-old averaged 15.966 during her two vaults, well clear of silver medalist Maria Paseka of Russian Federation and bronze medalist Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland. Phelps discovered what a lot of high-functioning retirees do: that too much leisure time can come with rot.

For Manuel, it was her second medal of the night - she also won silver in the 50 free - and second gold of the games. "It's a nice number".

The victory came just minutes after the women's medley relay gave the United States its 1,000th Olympic gold medal at the Summer Games.

The women's quartet of Kathleen Baker, Lilly King, Simone Manuel and Dana Vollmer made history, but were made to work.

Tori Bowie of the United States took silver with 10.83sec while Fraser-Pryce claimed bronze in 10.86. She became the first African-American woman to win an Olympic swimming title with her win in the 100 free.

Connor Jaeger gave the US another silver in the 1,500 free, leaving the American with 33 swimming medals in Rio - matching the highest total since the boycotted Los Angeles Games in 1984.

World champion Gregorio Paltrinieri blazed to gold in the men's 1,500m in the absence of defending champion Sun Yang, who crushed out in the heats blaming a cold, the Italian smashing a quality field to win in 14:34.57. He is keen to spend time with his wife and baby Boomer who was born in May, but one suspects he would be supported if he is of a mind to return to the pool after a period of reflection and rest.